The Xbox 360 controller might be the best button-and-stick-filled manipulator of this generation. It's telling that Microsoft has deigned to fix its controller's most dinged feature—the d-pad—at the same time it's launching Kinect, which does away with controllers entirely. Personal movement trackers may be the future of gaming, but it's clear that that future is a little ways off. And in the present, we need a better controller.

The new controller is almost exactly like the old controller, except for the mighty morphing d-pad. Push down, twist the thing counter-clockwise, and a traditional four-way d-pad emerges, like a marginally hot and shiny stripper from a cake. Spinning clockwise recombobulates it back into the puck that gamers love to hate.

The four-way d-pad is markedly better for fighting games, like adding a pair of brass knuckles to your dragon punch—every move is easier to pull off more consistently, from Fei Long's flaming kick to Zangief's piledrivers in Street Fighter IV. Old school-style sidescrollers feel more like they should as well. But there is a price for this power: After about 30 minutes of ass-kickery: The d-pad is countersunk into a pit, and, after two-hundred frantic fireballs, the edges of that pit will tear up your thumb. But old school gamers like that kind of pain.

Four-way directional pad is awesome for fighting and old-school games. Even in puck mode, it seems to work a little better. Morphing mechanism feels solid. The four "home" dots have been sanded off of the analog stick, leaving a totally smooth surface for your thumbs to rest on. I missed them at first, but after a couple hours of using the d-pad I appreciated the satin-y analog stick. Left and right triggers are slightly longer than the stock model as well.

The fact that you can only get this controller as a $65 play-and-charge bundle feels like extortion. Most Xbox 360 gamers—particularly the fanatics that would be psyched about this controller—probably already have a play-and-change kit or four. Why isn't this available standalone, or better still, bundled with new consoles? Thumb callouses required to protect you from d-pad drubbing.

If you play a ton of fighting games or just loathe the Xbox 360 d-pad, you will dig this controller. I just hope you don't already have a bunch of them.